Sunday Service 10:30 a.m.
Child care is available starting at 10:00 a.m.
Join us for our delicious brunch after the service.
We welcome guests!

There will be NO LUNCH SERVED on Sunday 12/25/16 and Sunday 1/1/17. The Top Chefs are taking a break to spend time with their families during the holidays.
Thanks

From the Interim Minister:

One of the commonly heard misconceptions about Unitarians is that “they don’t believe in anything.” Nothing could be further from the truth! We are non-creedal; i.e., we do not require people to think a particular way. But we’re also—and always have been—covenantal, meaning we agree to treat one another in certain agreed upon and respectful ways. In short, Unitarian Universalists believe we don’t have to think alike to love alike.

Our current UU covenant (adopted in 1985) has seven principles. The first principle is the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This is an underlying UU understanding; it’s why we support civil rights and LGBTQ rights, why we care about political dissidents here and abroad, and about people on death row. Because we believe everyone is important.

Orthodoxy, on the other hand—orthodox Christianity at any rate—sees life as a veil of tears and human nature as depraved. We’re “wretched, hopeless sinners,” as they say. Were it not for God’s grace, they believe, we wouldn’t have a prayer. But Unitarians as a rule see it otherwise. How so? How did we come to this view?

Historically (among the Unitarians) it was primarily the Transcendentalists who turned our thinking around. And the key Transcendentalist, if there was one, was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was a Unitarian minister, but left the pulpit, complaining about its “corpse cold” head-trippy forms and style. For years, his greatest pleasure had been walking in the countryside. The hills, rivers, and pastures all seemed alive and harmonious—suggestive of a larger general life of which they, and he too, were all a part. He writes about feeling an infinite force coursing through his soul. All these thoughts and feelings became his ruling passion. It drew him to read Plato and the Neo-Platonists and the sacred books of India. It drew him to the Quakers of New Bedford, Massachusetts, especially Mary Rotch, who shared with Emerson the concept of one’s “inner light” as their link to a common—UNIVERSAL—divinity.

Most of all it was the ancient Greeks who constantly wrote of this force. “The soul,” wrote Pythagoras, “is an emanation of the Divinity, a part of the soul of the world, a ray from the source of light.” And Heraclitus: “That common light which enlightens all at once is only the divine reason spread through all thinking beings by an immediate effusion.” This corresponded with Plato’s idea of the Good, the unity that lies forever at the heart/circumference of things.

The Universalists came at it a little differently, but they were equally thoughtful and humanistic. As a rule, Universalists focused less on divine logos (i.e., reason) and more on connecting to others through the heart. In the words of the late Dr. Clarence Skinner, founder of the Community Church of Boston, writing in 1915, “The Universalist idea of God is that of a Universal Immanent Spirit whose nature is love. It is the largest thought the world has ever known; it is the most revolutionary doctrine ever proclaimed; it is the most expansive hope ever dreamed.”

So it is, whenever people come up to me and say, “Why, you Unitarian Universalists don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus!” I always reply, “On the contrary. Unitarian Universalists wouldn’t deny the divinity of anyone!”

See you at PUC! Stephen

Receptivity

Being receptive to the still small voice. A tribute to being still.

Reverend Dr. Stephen H. Furrer

"Synesthesia"

Reverend Stephen Furrer, the PUC Choir and Music Director Severin Behnen team up to usher in the holidays with tributes to Unitarian poet e.e.Cummings and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan. Excerpts from cumming's play Santa Claus with dramatic appearances by Death, Child, Woman, an unruly mob, and dear, old, misunderstood Santa himself.

Keeping In touch

We miss long-time PUC members Julius and Ginny Schwartz, ho have been living in San Diego. Julius is painting and teaching classes in their retirement community. Ginny now is in the Memory Center there. She (and Julius, too) would love notes and cards from friends here. Call Barbara Paulsen, the Church Office, or see the PUC Directory for their address.

Sunday Hospitality
Volunteers

It takes many hands to
make a Sunday. Special thanks
to all of our volunteers!

PUC Board of Directors will hold our semi-annual Financial Review. The purpose of this meeting is to share with our members how we did in our last fiscal year (July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016) and how we are doing so far in this fiscal year (since July 1, 2016). We will be discussing where we think we're heading for the near term, and where we might go in the longer term. In addition, we will start the conversation about building a budget for next year (July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018). Some of the items on the agenda for discussion include the results of the internal audit of fiscal year ending 2016, the status and winding down of the Growth and Reinvestment Campaign, a report on Pacific Sage Preschool, and a call out to the various committees and individual members for visions and ideas of how to raise and where to spend our money in the coming year and years. Our Treasurer will be there along with other Board and Committee members prepared to field questions and listen to your ideas. This is an important meeting to attend if you have anything (good or bad) to say about the financial aspects of our church.

Seaside Christmas

Get in the holiday spirit and get your creative juices flowing this Saturday, December 3rd at PUC's Spirit of Light decorating party. Please join us from 9 a.m.-11 a.m and spend a couple of hours with good coffee, good company, and good work.

Please bring any ocean-themed decorations you would like to donate as we are doing a "Seaside Christmas" this year.
(Note: The Religious Education team will be decorating a mitten tree on December 10th to donate to Harbor Interfaith Shelter families, so bring your donations for that too.)

Holiday Tree Trimming Potluck
December 10th, 5pm-8pm
Bring donations for the Giving Tree (socks, hats and scarves) and a potluck item. We’ll be making ornaments, decorating gingerbread houses, enjoying food together and singing.
RSVP with the number of people and your potluck item to dre@pacificunitarian.org by December 8th

Attention!

The Food Ministry needs your help! We are looking for a donated refrigerator to replace our large freezer. If you have a working second refrigerator in your garage and want to donate it to PUC, please contact Andy Kissner at andykpuc@gmail.com or call 213-595-2093 for pick up.

Did You Know....You can contribute $$$to PUC when shopping at Ralphs? Go to www.ralphs.com and register choosing Pacific Unitarian Church as your non-profit community organization. Yearly registration started in September, so if you haven't registered/renewed since September, you are not currently participating in Ralphs Community Contribution Program. Scan bar letters are available in the office for those who prefer to register by taking this letter into Ralphs when shopping and syncing up their Ralphs Card. It doesn’t cost you anything. Ralphs gives PUC a percentage of what you spend there.

Playing in the Sage…

“If teaching is reduced to mere data transmission, if there is no sharing or excitement and wonder, if teachers themselves are passive recipients of information and not creators of new ideas, what hope is there for their students?”

---Paul Lockhart, A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form

Practicum students from El Camino/Compton College came to tour Pacific Sage Preschool on Wednesday with their instructor Dr. Hoa Nguyen. Most of the students are doing their student teaching at more traditional sites. The environment and philosophy of our school (and being able to observe some of the children interact with the environment) excited them and provoked many great questions and a good discussion about our responsibility to bring our passion and best practice to the children and families that we work with. Seeing possibility has a way of doing that.

Before leaving, they went into the canyon and walked the trail. When they came out, the students had many compliments for Marina Kissner, who made it such an enriching experience with the guide and enhancements she created.

To contact people named in The View please see the PUC Directory which is available in the Members Section of the PUC website. If you need the password for the Members Section, or if you do not have access to a computer, contact the PUC Office for help accessing it. The phone number and office hours are listed each week at the very bottom of The View.

Mike Buttitta, President mikebuttitta@gmail.comTrish Botsko, Treasurer treasurer@pacificunitarian.orgPhone numbers and individual email addresses for all other Trustees can be found in the Member Directory.